


Speak Truth

by gluupor



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Fairy Tale Style, Happy Ending, M/M, Tumblr Prompt, story telling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-15 05:15:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16056278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gluupor/pseuds/gluupor
Summary: "Little rabbit," said the Monster. "Were you sent to kill me?" he continued mockingly, and smiled. It wasn't a nice smile; it was distinctively threatening, all of the Monster's pointed teeth showing."I am not afraid of you," said Neil.The Monster cocked his head thoughtfully. "Interesting," he said. "Why are you here, rabbit?"





	Speak Truth

**Author's Note:**

> Written for this prompt on tumblr (some story spoilers): Idk if you are taking prompts/you know anyone who is willing to, but I just read a short story by the SOC author called Ayama and the Thorn Wood and I just thought of an andreil au. It’s about a girl who’s family doesn’t care about her at all and they send her to bargain with a beast in the woods as they will be compensated by the king. The beast tells her to tell him a story that will make him feels smth other than anger and she goes back a couple times, and they fall in love it’s so cute

Deep in the Western Mountains a spoiled and selfish King ruled over a lush valley. He lived lavishly, excessively, while his people suffered hardship. Their Kingdom was involved in several pointless disputes with neighbouring territories due to the King's easily bruised pride. The people in the valley grumbled angrily over the high taxes and hard living, but quietly, always quietly, not wanting to bring the King's wrath upon themselves.

The King had three advisors that he kept close by; he treated them as possessions and ensured that they all knew that they were his to command as he pleased. The least of the advisors called himself Neil, but only in his own mind. The King had other epithets for him.

The war in the East was getting particularly bloody causing both conscription in the army and taxes to rise at an alarming rate. The King's advisors begged and pleaded with him to forgive the slight, to call their people home, but their requests fell on deaf ears. The people of the valley began to grumble less quietly, angry and vengeful over their lost sons and gold.

Tensions were at a high when one day a goatherd went out to his pasture in the morning and found all his goats dead, their remains scattered. His was not the only pasture affected, causing panic among the commoners.

"No ordinary man could have done this," they whispered. "Only a Monster could do such a thing."

For some years it had been known that a Monster had taken up residence in the Thorn Wood. As a rule the valley people avoided entering the surrounding forest at all and so there had been an uneasy truce between them. One which the Monster had now broken.

The King promised to protect his subjects from this threat. "This is why your sons and tax money must support a strong military," he told them and they fervently agreed.

"Silvertongue," said the King idly to the least of his advisors, "you are finally to put your tongue to good use. You are to go and speak with this Monster to convince him to leave our herds alone."

"He'll be killed!" protested the King's favourite advisor, the man who was second only to the King.

"But he's so quick and clever with his quips," drawled the King, his beetle-black eyes boring into Neil with malevolence. "Surely he'll be able to talk his way out of danger."

"What will my reward be if I succeed?" asked Neil in resignation. He belonged to the King; he could not disobey him.

"Money," said the King. "I will reward you handsomely."

* * *

Neil strung a copper cup and a silver knife onto his belt and headed across the valley. The sun beat down on him relentlessly as he passed through now-empty pastures that contained only the remains of herd animals, their corpses obscured through black clouds of flies.

He was unafraid. All his life he had been at the mercy of violent men, the Monster could not be much worse than them. Perhaps it would even kill him quickly.

He approached the Thorn Wood cautiously, the magic of the place causing his skin to break out in gooseflesh. He pushed a thorny bramble aside and stepped into the forest.

Even without the tingle on his skin, he would have known that the wood was magical. It was dark and cool under the trees, the night sky above dotted with stars, even though it had been high noon when he breached the forest's boundary. A light breeze blew through the trees, soothing his overheated skin.

It was ominously quiet, no sounds of birds or insects, only the slight gurgle of a brook. Neil could never remember being quite so thirsty, so he moved forwards, taking the copper cup from his belt and dipping it into the fresh, cool water.

"I wouldn't drink that if I were you," came an indolent voice from behind him, "unless you wish to become a beast like me."

Neil whipped around, cursing himself for momentarily forgetting why he was here. The Monster stood fairly close by. He was shaped like a man, albeit a very short one, but he had curling horns protruding from either side of his head. His eyes glowed yellow, and his nose emitted a thin stream of smoke when he breathed.

Neil slowly gripped his silver knife. "Monster," he said.

"Little rabbit," replied the Monster. "Were you sent to kill me?" he continued mockingly, before his hand darted forwards, impossibly quickly, and grabbed Neil's knife. He plunged it into his own chest, but the knife turned away, unable to pierce the Monster's hide. "This won't help you." He threw the knife down at Neil's feet and smiled. It wasn't a nice smile; it was distinctively threatening, all of the Monster's pointed teeth showing.

"I am not afraid of you," said Neil.

The Monster cocked his head thoughtfully. "Interesting," he said. "Why are you here, rabbit?"

"You have killed our grazing animals," said Neil.

"Have I?" responded the Monster. "Well, the King's own herds have not been touched. I am sure that he will be able to make up the difference."

"While the King is happy to do so-" Neil's words cut off in his throat, choking him, and a loud siren echoed in his ears. He looked around wildly.

"Careful," said the Monster once the sound had ceased. "The wood has no rules but one. Speak truth."

Neil clenched his jaw in frustration. "Will you agree to leave our herds alone?"

"For nothing in return?" asked the Monster. "No."

"What do you want?"

"A story," said the Monster, after some contemplation.

"A story?" echoed Neil.

"Yes, a story," said the Monster. "If you can tell me a story that does not bore me I will agree to leave your herds be. If not," he smiled again, showing his teeth, "I will eat you."

"I can't imagine I'd be a very satisfying meal," said Neil, gesturing at his skinny frame.

"No," agreed the Monster, "but perhaps killing you would discourage future trespassers."

Neil rolled his eyes and tried to think of a story to tell. He wondered if the wood's rules would prevent him from saying anything untrue.

"Once," he started hesitantly, "there was a boy who was always hungry. No matter how much he ate he couldn't fill himself up and he was desperately unhappy. His parents consulted doctors and wise women and sages from far away lands but no one could tell them why their son had such an appetite.

"News of the boy's strange affliction travelled far and wide until it was heard by a doctor's daughter, a beautiful, compassionate, and intelligent girl. She brought the news to her father who had travelled all over the world and knew many things. She entreated him to help the boy.

"Together the doctor and his daughter travelled to the boy's hometown. The doctor examined him, making him open his mouth up wide so that he could peer down into his gullet. 'Ah,' said the doctor. 'I see.' He turned to the boy's mother. 'Did you ever sleep with the window open while the boy quickened in your belly?' he asked.

"The boy's mother was taken aback but answered in the affirmative. The doctor explained that while the mother had slept she had accidentally breathed in the night air and a small piece of the night, black and void, was now lodged in her son. The only thing that could fill the emptiness was the sun.

"The boy was perplexed. How would he reach the sun in order to consume the teaspoonful he needed to sate his hunger? There were not any ladders tall enough to reach the sky. The doctor's daughter was the one who came up with a solution. The sun, she realized, was not always up in the sky. In the evenings it touched the sea in the west. She and the boy sailed to where the sea met the sky and at sunset the boy collected a teaspoonful of sun-"

The Monster scoffed. "And I suppose it filled the void within him and he married the beautiful, intelligent doctor's daughter and had twenty babies and lived happily ever after?" he asked scornfully.

"No," said Neil indignantly, although that was how the story had ended when his mother had told it to him when he was a small child. "That would be nonsense. The boy did drink the teaspoonful of sun and it did cure his everlasting hunger. And he did marry the doctor's daughter and have many children. But despite all that, the boy found that he was still unhappy. Some people are born with a piece of night inside them - a hollow place that can never be filled with good food or sunshine. The empty void can never be banished and we must simply endure it, as the boy did."

The Monster watched Neil intently, his yellow eyes seeming to see through him completely. Neil regretted what he had said; he had not wanted to reveal so much of his own truth. Casting his eyes away from the Monster's knowing stare, he noticed pale, thin scars along the Monster's forearms.

"I thought that knives couldn't pierce a Monster's hide," said Neil in confusion.

"Not a Monster's hide, no," agreed the Monster, with a significant look over to the brook. Neil remembered what the Monster had revealed earlier.

"Were you once a man?" asked Neil.

The Monster was quiet for a long time. "I will not harm your herds, rabbit," he said finally, turning away from Neil. "Go now, and don't return."

Neil knew that the vow was good because the wood demanded truth, but he needed proof to bring back to his King. The Monster seemed to know this. "Take a sprig of quince blossoms," he said. "It only grows in enchanted lands. That should be proof enough."

* * *

Neil's return from the Thorn Wood caused widespread joy and relief. The word spread that the Monster would trouble their herds no more. The only one displeased by this turn of events was the King.

"And what did you have to offer the beast in order to protect our herds?" he asked snidely, his eyes cold and calculating. "What have you given away?"

"Nothing that couldn't be parted with," replied Neil placidly.

The King hemmed and hawed but under the watchful eyes of his two other advisors he granted Neil with the reward he had been promised.

Life in the valley resumed its normal rhythm, but Neil found himself often distracted. He thought often about the Thorn Wood, the cool, enchanted clearing, and the creature that dwelt there.

As the fear of the Monster lessened, the old complaints of the common folk started up again. The King had raised the taxes even higher to help fund his petty squabbles. Tensions were again at a high when one day a farmer went out to her field only to find that her crops had been ravaged and destroyed. Hers was not the only farm affected, and again fear spread among the commoners.

"Silvertongue," said the King lazily. "The Monster is at it again. Go to him once more and convince him to leave our crops alone."

"Just because he survived once doesn't guarantee the Monster won't kill him this time," argued the King's favourite advisor.

"He will do as I command."

"And what will be my reward?" asked Neil.

"Land," said the King. "I will gift you land carved from my best estate if you succeed."

* * *

Again Neil tucked his copper cup and his silver knife into his belt and journeyed across the valley. When he reached the Thorn Wood, he pushed eagerly through the brambles, heaving a contented sigh when he stepped into the cool, enchanted clearing.

The Monster was before him, pacing as if he had been waiting. He stopped as Neil stepped forwards.

"You must not be valued if they would send you to your death a second time," remarked the Monster.

Neil ignored that, knowing it was truth due to the rules of the wood. "You have destroyed our crops."

"Have I?" responded the Monster. "The King's own crops and stores have not been touched. Let him make up the difference."

"Will you make a bargain to leave our crops alone?"

"You know the only bargain I will make, little rabbit," said the Monster. "Speak truth and then I will decide your fate."

Neil had been prepared for this. His last story had revealed a truth about himself which had led the Monster to sharing a truth of his own. "A woman with a sad countenance came to a small village. There she met a man who was in want of a wife and they were married and before long they had a child. As the child grew he became difficult and disobedient. He was often sickly, which led to a deep unhappiness, and he was a great burden on his mother. The women of the village felt sorry for the mother whose countenance grew even more sad and they commiserated with her often.

"One day, an evil spirit from the North arrived, preying on the poor mother. It broke her cream pitchers, and destroyed the tinctures that she had made to keep her child healthy. It broke her husband's plow so that he was stuck at home during the day. But mostly it followed the child, as if drawn by his bad behaviour. It would rattle the windows and shake his bed so that he could have no rest and it would spill his dinner on the floor when he tried to eat."

The Monster growled. "Let me guess. The child cried and prayed and promised to behave itself which caused the spirit to leave, and this is a lesson to ungrateful children everywhere."

That was how the story had ended when Neil's mother had whispered it to him after he had endured another punishment from his father, but it was not how Neil's version of the story ended. "No, that would be nonsense," he said. "The child realized that the spirit was trying to communicate so one day when his parents were out he quieted down and sung a lullaby to lure the spirit to speak. When the spirit spoke it revealed that it was the spirit of the child's mother's firstborn son whom she had caused to sicken and die in order to gain sympathy from the women of her village. The mother had then travelled away to find somewhere new to repeat her crimes and it had taken the spirit several years to find her. It had then tried to protect her new child: smashing the tinctures that the mother fed him to keep him sickly and ill, destroying his food to keep him from eating poisons, keeping him awake so that she could not administer anything in his sleep. The spirit had even broken the plow to keep the child's father home more often.

"The child was shocked but he told his father what the spirit had revealed. His father was skeptical but he agreed to investigate and he found that all that the spirit had said was true. Because sometimes those that are meant to love us most are the ones who do us the most harm."

Again the Monster watched Neil intently, his eyes bright with understanding. "What happened to the mother?" he eventually asked.

"Bad fates do not always follow those who deserve them," said Neil. "But I believe that she was eaten by a dragon."

The Monster gave a little huff. "Very well, rabbit, I will leave your crops alone." He turned to leave.

"What is your name?" asked Neil asked, not wanting the Monster to leave yet. Why not rest here and share another story? Why not learn more of the Monster's truth?

"What is yours?" countered the Monster.

Neil opened his mouth to reply, but then closed it quickly. The wood demanded truth.

The Monster watched him silently for a long time. "Take another sprig of quince blossoms," he said finally, "and leave me in peace."

* * *

Neil's return was once again heralded through the land, much to the King's displeasure. After reluctantly agreeing to grant Neil the reward he had been promised the King regarded him shrewdly.

"Does the Monster trust you?" he asked.

"Not killing me and trusting me are two very different things," replied Neil.

"Still…" said the King thoughtfully. "It does let you get close."

"What are you suggesting?" asked the King's favourite advisor.

"Silvertongue," said the King sharply. "You will return to the Thorn Wood and slay this beast so that we all may live in safety."

"No blade can pierce the hide of the Monster," Neil protested.

"A blade carved from the enchanted quince that grows in the Thorn Wood can kill anything," replied the King, gesturing to his second advisor. The man came forward carrying a box that held a knife carved from the sprig of quince blossoms that Neil had carried back from the Thorn Wood.

"If you do this," said the King, "then I will release you." Neil looked up sharply. "If you plunge that blade into the heart of the Monster, your servitude to me will be complete."

Neil could scarcely dare believe the King's words. Freedom and a safe place to call home were all that he had ever wanted out of life. He reluctantly reached out and gingerly picked up the quince blade.

"Kill the beast," said the King, "and you'll be free to do as you please."

* * *

For the second day in a row Neil made the trek across the valley to the Thorn Wood. The Monster seemed taken aback when Neil walked into the clearing, but recovered himself quickly.

"Are you that eager to be eaten?" he asked dryly.

"Do you want to hear a story?" Neil asked in reply.

"In exchange for what?" said the Monster warily.

"You'll see," said Neil. "Can I speak?"

The Monster gave a hesitant nod.

"Once upon a time a boy was born to two parents who hated each other," Neil started. "Their marriage had been arranged by their families against the wishes of them both. But they did their duty and brought a child into their unhappy union. The wife came to love the boy, in her own way, but the husband was full of hate. He hated everyone and everything but most of all he hated his own son and he often punished the boy just for existing.

"After many years the husband found a way to rid himself of the son he despised and sold him into the servitude of a King that he had angered. The wife did not wish for her son to be sold so she absconded with him in the night. Unfortunately, her husband anticipated this and stopped them, killing his wife for her disobedience.

"The boy was not sorry to leave the house of his father, but the King was also very cruel and he often punished the boy for his words. Just as the boy was resigned to his fate he was sent to treat with a Monster."

Neil looked up and caught the Monster's eyes. "Twice he spoke with the Monster, trading truths. But the King was still not happy. He sent the boy back to kill the Monster with a magic blade. He offered the boy freedom and a home, the two things that the boy had always wanted. But the boy realized that more than those things he wanted a place to belong."

"And how does this story end?" asked the Monster.

"I don't know yet," said Neil. "But the moral is that sometimes we don't know what we're looking for until it shows up in a way we weren't expecting."

The Monster was silent for a time, staring thoughtfully at his old scars. "There once was a boy who was unwanted by everyone," he said haltingly. "The only people that ever wanted him desired to hurt him. No one could hear his cries for help and when he tried to make them listen they said that he was a monster inside. He tried to match his insides to his outsides, carving his pain into his skin for the world to see, but the world turned a blind eye.

"He retreated into the forest, isolating himself. One day he stumbled upon an enchanted wood. The wood was safe and solitary but only a magic creature can live in a magic environment. Knowing that it would change him, he drank deeply from the brook until his outsides finally matched his insides and everybody kept away."

"What was his name?" asked Neil.

"His name was Andrew," replied the Monster.

"Andrew," repeated Neil thoughtfully. "My name is Neil." The wood did not object.

"One day a nearby King needed to distract his subjects and so arranged to have the commoners' herds attacked and their crops destroyed to unite them against a common enemy. But the King was foolish and he sent a kindred soul to reason with the Monster and the Monster realized that his home was lonely." The Monster stepped forwards and gently detached the copper cup from Neil's belt. He knelt and filled it with water from the brook before offering it to Neil. "Stay with me?" he asked.

* * *

Neil never returned to the valley Kingdom. Within a week of his departure, the King was found stabbed through the heart with a quince blade. Soon after, evidence was found that he had been the one to kill the herds and destroy the crops. The King's favourite advisor ascended to the throne and he ruled the land with justice and benevolence. He decreed that the Thorn Wood was never to be breached by any of his subjects and so the two Monsters who dwelt within were able to spend their days together in peace, forgotten by all who would bring them harm.

**Author's Note:**

> Please like and reblog on tumblr [@gluupor](http://gluupor.tumblr.com/post/178317402543/idk-if-you-are-taking-promptsyou-know-anyone-who)


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